Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Momotaro sponsored by Pepsi Next

A bit of a different post today. Maybe I should be asking Suntory for some free samples, but I love the new Pepsi ad starting Shun Oguri (小栗旬). It is a remake of the Japanese fairy tale Momotaro (桃太郎). For those that don't know the story, Momotaro is found by an elderly couple after floating down the river inside a giant peach. Momotaro grows up and goes on a quest (along with a monkey, dog and pheasant) to save the troubled island Onigashima from a marauding hoard of demons. The commercial is very nicely done, and I'd love to see a full length feature film along the lines of the 2009 film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are. Momotaro is played by Japanese heart throb Shun Oguri. I'm a big fan of his work, I would compare him to a young Johnny Depp or Brad Pitt, in that he doesn't rely on his good looks but also chooses interesting roles. He has played the lead roles in several film adaptations of popular manga including Uchu Kyodai (宇宙兄弟), Gaku (岳), and Crows (クローズ). He also appears frequently on stage productions including the lead in a Japanese production of Clockwork Orange. His next movie is a live action version of Lupin the Third (ルパン三世). Anyway, here is the ad, this looks like the first in a series of ads.